Chapter 211: A bit of a surprise

Chapter 211: Chapter 211: A bit of a surprise

Olympus

Light suddenly flooded through the windows as the curtains were thrown wide open. Damon frowned, still half asleep, while Amaterasu let out an annoyed sound beside him. Yasaka did not even bother opening her eyes; she moved closer to the redhead and pulled the sheet up until she was almost completely covered.

Grayfia Lucifuge stood in front of the windows with one hand still resting on the curtain. The silver-haired woman did not need to inspect the room for long to get an idea of what had happened. Clothes were scattered across the floor, and the bed had definitely seen better days. Even so, she maintained her usual serious expression as she focused her attention on her king. "I’m pleased to see that Your Majesty is still alive."

Damon opened one eye. "Good morning, Grayfia."

"It would be more accurate to say good afternoon, my lord," the Lucifuge replied, making it quite clear that morning had passed some time ago.

Damon barely registered the words as he sat up and ran a hand through his hair. However, the moment he tried to get up, Amaterasu wrapped herself around his waist, clearly unhappy at the thought of losing her human pillow. "Darling..."

"I need to get up, Ama," Damon said, amused.

"I don’t want to. A little longer won’t hurt," the goddess complained, trying to pull him back into bed.

A sweatdrop ran down Damon’s temple. Amaterasu was normally more hardworking than he was and took her responsibilities as queen quite seriously, so seeing her refuse to leave the bed out of sheer laziness was rather amusing.

Damon let out a laugh, and from the other side Yasaka raised one hand without lifting her face from the pillow. "I agree with her."

Grayfia regarded the scene seriously. "Hmm, hmm." She shook her head and began picking up one of the garments resting on a chair, calmly folding it. Finding her master in a situation like this was not exactly unusual for a Devil like her. It was the kind of routine she knew quite well, even if she personally had not had many opportunities to experience it. Of course, if her lord ever asked it of her, she would hardly hesitate.

"I assume everything has been fine, Grayfia."

"Perfectly, my lord." The Lucifuge placed the garment over the back of the chair and folded her hands in front of her. "Olympus has been functioning without its king for three days thanks to the efforts of your confidants. Hestia-sama, Hera-sama, and Athena-sama have handled several administrative matters in your absence."

Damon blinked, more surprised by how much time had passed than anything else. Amaterasu opened her eyes as well, looking equally confused. "Eh? It’s been three days?"

Yasaka stretched lazily beneath the sheets. Unlike the two deities, she had managed to keep some track of time during the first day, though she had eventually lost it as well. At that moment she was so exhausted that she was not even seriously considering getting out of bed.

Damon let out a sigh. "All right. Give me twenty minutes."

"Perhaps it would be best if Lord Damon hurried. Lady Gaia has been waiting for you for approximately thirty minutes."

The name wiped the last traces of sleep from Damon’s face. He threw the sheets aside and stood up, causing Grayfia to avert her eyes for a moment before regaining her composure. "You should’ve started with that, Grayfia," the redhead said, rolling his eyes as he extended his senses. Sure enough, the Primordial’s presence was in Olympus.

The news surprised him, though not in any alarming way. He had remained in contact with Gaia even while they were both busy with their own affairs, but it had been quite some time since she had personally visited Olympus. "Did she say what she wanted?"

"She preferred to wait until you were available." Grayfia paused briefly before adding in the same professional tone, "Preferably today."

Amaterasu started laughing into the pillow. Damon turned toward her, wondering what she found so amusing, before crouching down to search for his pants among the mess on the floor. Grayfia found one of his black shirts first, picked it up, and handed it to him. Her eyes briefly dropped to the redhead’s bare chest before returning to his face.

Grayfia turned toward the door. "I will inform Lady Gaia that His Majesty has decided to rejoin the world of the living."

Without adding anything else, the Lucifuge left the chambers and the door closed behind her with a click. For a moment no one spoke, until Amaterasu lifted her head from the pillow. "It seems Grayfia-chan is a little jealous. Though I can’t really blame her. She’s still a Devil, after all."

Damon began putting on his shirt. "Nah. She’s not jealous."

"Oh, she definitely sounded like she was," Yasaka chimed in from the bed. The kitsune still had not bothered lifting her head from the pillow and had listened to the entire exchange with her eyes practically closed.

"Meh. Grayfia has always been like that. You two are imagining things."

Amaterasu and Yasaka turned toward each other with nearly identical seriously? expressions. Damon understood the message perfectly and decided to ignore them as he finished getting dressed.

Before leaving, he leaned over Amaterasu and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. The goddess wrapped her arms around his neck for a few moments before letting him go.

He then leaned toward Yasaka. The kitsune opened her eyes when she felt him approach and happily returned the kiss when Damon gently lifted her chin. "Get some rest," the redhead murmured.

Yasaka let out a small, satisfied sound before settling back beneath the sheets. "That was the plan." Damon gave the kitsune a couple of gentle pats on the head before finishing getting ready. By the time he left his chambers, he was fully dressed, though his hair was still somewhat messy as he walked through the temple corridors toward one of the private rooms used by the family.

He did not even need to ask where Gaia was. He could clearly sense the Primordial’s presence inside one of the rooms, alone for the moment. When he opened the doors, he found her standing near one of the open windows, with a small table set nearby with tea and some fruit. Gaia turned her head when she sensed him enter, and a warmer smile appeared on her face.

"There you are," the Primordial said, amused. "I was starting to think I’d have to come find you myself."

"Grayfia already did enough of that for one day." Damon walked toward her, shaking his head. "You could’ve told me you were coming, you know."

"I could have, but then I would’ve ruined the surprise."

Damon barely had time to roll his eyes before reaching her. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her against him, capturing her lips in an intense kiss that Gaia returned without the slightest hesitation. The Primordial wrapped her arms around the redhead’s neck while her fingers sank into his hair, keeping him close.

The kiss continued until Gaia sensed a presence approaching through the corridor. Her fingers stopped in Damon’s hair, and the Primordial pulled back enough to look toward the door. "Rhea is coming."

Damon understood immediately. Gaia gave him one last short kiss before stepping away and calmly returning to her seat. Damon did the same, settling across from her just before the doors opened and Rhea entered the room. The Titaness was carrying another tray and found nothing unusual about seeing her mother and son already seated at the table.

Rhea placed the tray beside the others and took a seat next to Gaia. The Primordial waited for her daughter to settle in before turning her attention back toward Damon with complete ease. "It’s good to see that you’re still in good health, Damon."

"Yeah, yeah, very funny." Damon leaned back in his seat while Rhea raised an eyebrow, already getting a fairly good idea of why her son had taken so long to appear.

"Not a word," Damon warned before his mother even had the chance to open her mouth. He was far too used to Rhea taking every opportunity she could to tease him a little.

The Titaness’s lips curved upward, though she wisely chose to remain silent. Gaia, on the other hand, showed no such restraint. "The last thing I expected when I decided to surprise you was to interrupt your evening."

Rhea shook her head as she took her tea. Damon decided that continuing to feed the subject would only make things worse and changed the conversation. "Anyway, it’s good to see you. I assume you already heard about the Hecatoncheir."

Gaia blinked, as though that had not been the first thing on her mind. "Ah, yes. I heard. I suppose it’s good that he’s finally free." The Primordial gave a slight shrug before continuing. "You know I’ve never been especially close to most of my children, Damon. I also haven’t been paying much attention to what’s happening around Tartarus lately."

The answer surprised the redhead a little, since he had assumed the release of one of her sons would be the main reason for her visit. Gaia seemed to notice his expression and waved a hand dismissively. "Don’t misunderstand me. I’m glad he’s free, especially after all the time he spent imprisoned. But I didn’t come all the way to Olympus just because of that."

"If you say so," Damon replied with a shrug.

Gaia picked up one of the fruits from the table before continuing. "I actually came to tell you that I already took care of what you asked me to do with the Aztecs. The damaged areas have finished stabilizing, and the land in Mexico is recovering quite well. Quetzalcoatl is more than satisfied with the results."

Damon raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised. It had not been that long since he asked for her help with the affected lands, and he had not expected Gaia to finish so quickly. After everything that had happened with the Aztecs, he had wanted to make sure the damage done to their territory was not simply abandoned once he returned to Olympus. Knowing the situation had been resolved was one less responsibility weighing on him. "Thanks, Gaia. Seriously."

The Primordial waved off his gratitude. "Oh, it was nothing. It was damaged land, Damon. If there’s one thing I can still handle without much effort, it’s that." A thoughtful expression crossed her face before she added, "Besides, you did the right thing by getting involved. Even Chaos seems rather pleased with how things turned out."

That caught Damon’s attention more than anything else. "Chaos?"

"Hmm." Gaia rested an arm on the table. "Lately, she seems rather interested in making sure everything continues functioning as it should. That the different worlds remain stable, that things stay in order, and that no one causes a disaster that ends up affecting more than necessary. The curious part is that she still prefers others to keep things that way rather than personally interfering with her own worlds and creations."

Damon fell silent, thinking over the Earth Primordial’s words. It made sense. Chaos had always possessed more than enough power to intervene whenever she wanted; choosing to remain apart did not mean she had stopped paying attention. In fact, knowing her, she probably saw far more than she let on and simply preferred moving certain pieces rather than stepping onto the board herself.

The silence that followed caught Rhea’s attention, and she looked first at her son and then at her mother. Both seemed lost in their own thoughts. "Everything all right with you two?" the Titaness finally asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.

Gaia came out of her thoughts and cleared her throat. "Yes, everything is fine. I was just thinking about something else." She then set the subject of Chaos aside, and her expression became noticeably warmer as she returned her attention to Damon. "I also heard that you’re going to have your first child. Congratulations."

Damon smiled slightly. "Thanks."

"Amaterasu must be happy," Gaia commented.

"She is. Very much so, actually." Damon let out a small laugh as he remembered some of her reactions over the past few weeks. "Though right now she’s a little too busy sleeping to show it."

Rhea shook her head, amused. "After what you’ve been doing for three days, I’m surprised either of those two can stay awake."

Damon turned toward his mother. "I thought we agreed you weren’t going to say anything."

"I never agreed to anything. You told me not to say anything."

Gaia burst out laughing while Damon rolled his eyes. The Primordial regained her composure shortly afterward and returned to the subject. "In any case, I’m happy for you. It was about time you gave me another descendant to worry about."

Damon looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "There’s nothing to worry about, woman."

Rhea let out a small nervous laugh, already having a very good idea of what her mother meant, while Gaia released a sigh heavy with experience. "Damon, my history with descendants isn’t exactly reassuring. Uranus, the Titans, the Olympians, the Giants... after a certain point, you start noticing a pattern."

Rhea nearly choked on her tea, not expecting her mother to say it quite so bluntly. Damon, meanwhile, stared at Gaia for a moment before laughing as well. "Well, you can relax. My descendants aren’t going to be like that."

Gaia narrowed her eyes, unconvinced. "That’s exactly what I thought. Give them a few centuries before making statements that confidently. Divine descendants have a rather annoying tendency to develop ideas of their own."

Damon shook his head, still amused. "Ameos is going to be fine. I’m not raising a child who’ll show up a thousand years from now with an army trying to take Olympus from me."

"I hope you’re right," Gaia replied as she picked up her cup again. "Because if he ever shows up trying to overthrow you, I’m going to make sure I personally remind you of this conversation."

"That’s never going to happen, I can assure you. And if it does, I’ll deal with my son." Some of the amusement left Damon’s tone. "I’m definitely not going to dance around the issue like Kronos or Zeus did."

Rhea turned toward him with a frown. "Damon, how can you say that? You’re talking about your children."

"I’m sorry, Mother, but them being my children doesn’t mean I’m going to let them do whatever they want." Damon kept his voice calm. "If they ever start causing destruction or putting others in danger, I’ll intervene. Being their father doesn’t mean I have to ignore it."

Rhea pressed her lips together. She did not like hearing him speak that way, though she knew Damon was not saying it because he lacked affection for them. She had always struggled more with separating the two, and part of what had happened with Zeus had stemmed from exactly that.

Gaia, on the other hand, nodded calmly. "I agree with Damon. We’re an immortal family, Rhea, not mortals. Sometimes difficult decisions become necessary. Believe me, I know exactly how you feel, but after enough centuries you learn that loving someone doesn’t mean allowing them to do whatever they want."

Rhea remained silent for a few moments before sighing. She knew they both had a point, though that did not make imagining such a situation any more pleasant. "All right, but you both realize you’re discussing what to do if Ameos tries to conquer Olympus a thousand years from now, and the child hasn’t even been born yet, right?"

Damon relaxed back into his seat. "We know."

Gaia took another sip of tea. "It’s never too early to be prepared."